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My buddy and I setup for our second calling sequence of the morning. We positioned ourselves on top of a small 30 foot cliff that had a seep at the very bottom where elk had been wallowing. After setting up the Montana decoy, Steve did a short calling sequence on his new Primos Imaka Da BullCrazy (orange) call. Shortly after the first call sequence we heard a small bugle up and across the slide. Steve did another small calling sequence, when up the valley (slide) a small rag horn 3 point came out of the buck brush. He was between 600 to 700 hundred yards up and across the valley. We set there for another 20 to 30 minutes with Steve doing an occasional calling sequence. We watched that rag horn thrash a poor bush to death as he jumped and dancing around it. You would have thought he was the biggest badest bull on the mountain by the way he was acting and bugling.

If my day had ended here it would have been a great day, but it did not.

The rag horn would stop every once and awhile and look down over the top of the slide where we could not see. Steve was ready to move to another location, but I told him I thought I had heard something down and over the top of the valley. I asked him, with the way the rag horn was acting and what I thought I heard to give the setup another 15 minutes.

Shortly after my request, we both heard a good bugle from down the valley. The bull was coming! Form our position we could see most of the valley, but the majority of it is covered in thick buck brush. We never saw the bull as it moved over the top into the valley, but we were able to keep track of where it was located from its bugling and the occasional cow calls we could hear. Steve and I were very surprised that the bull had come so far with his cows.

When the bull was about 200 to 250 yards out everything got quiet. We thought that bull was hung up with his cows. Steve gave the bull a few more call sequences and we waited. Few minutes later the bull was screaming coming out of the brush about 150 yards away. It was like he was on a string, he was coming straight in.

The bull did not have any cows with him; it was him that was making the cow chirps! As he came in, on almost every step, he made a cow chirp. Has anyone else ever had this happen?

He stopped 47 yards out turned broadside and started thrashing a bush. It could not have been a more perfect situation. I had set over this wallow several times in the past couple of days. I had ranged about every rock and bush in sight. The bull was standing right over a dark bluish rock that I had ranged about 2 dozen times. With the downward angle the shot was exactly 40 yards.

When the elk was about 80 yards out I locked my release on to the string. This was not as easy as you would think it should be. I was shaking like a cottonwood tree in a middle of an afternoon thunder storm. After I finally got my release on the string, I shut my eyes and tried to calm myself. When I open my eyes Steve whispered in my ear I think he is about 42 yards. I started to pull back on the string when IT happened!

I thought I was going to have a HEART ATTACK! My release let go, I had NOT completely locked the release on. I can’t tell you everything that went through my head when I saw that arrow go about 20 feet out and drop straight down. You would be amazed how much went through my head, besides the expletives. I knew my friends would never let me live this down.

Thank God for the Montana decoy and Steve hitting that cow call. The bull looked up at the decoy and went back to whipping up on that bush, as if nothing had happen. If you thought I was shaking before, you would have thought a hurricane was blowing through and that poor little cottonwood tree was not going to survive! After like what seemed hours I was able to notch another arrow and attach my release. Triple checking that the release was locked, I pulled back, brought my site pins down along his front leg (thanks BB), back up and then back down settling the 40 yard pin on him.

I release the arrow, I did not see the arrow hit him, but heard a loud thwack. He ran about 20 yard and stopped and looked back. That’s when I started freaking out! It looked like over half the arrow was sticking out of him; why the lack of penetration? My worries were very short lived as the bull started wobbling. The bull walked another 20 yards before falling over. G5 Striker had done its job. The bull would probably not have gone as far as it did if not for the commotion coming from the top of the cliff.

The arrow had gone all the way through the vitals and hit the offside leg bone at the knuckle. When the bull ran after the initial hit the arrow had work out of him.

This could have been easily a nightmare I would have lived with the rest of my life instead of one of my top 5 hunting experiences ever. Now I can talk and joke about the “Warning Shot Bull”.

I can’t think my friend Steve or all you that contribute to this site enough.

Thanks Robert

Congrats

Cheers, Pete

Nick

As far as your bull making cow sounds this is quite common heard by most hunters but misunderstand what they're hearing! Most like yourself feel immediately that it's a bull with cows, yes it's possible but in many situations including yours it's the bull using both mews & short screams as he is trying to call this cow or cows over to him that he's heard which brought him your way from Steve's calling.

I have 4-5 different bulls using this cow mewing & a short scream right behind the mewing on the CD "Sounds By The Elk" I'm sure it's exactly how you heard it as well.------------

In turn, this is a great strategy to employ by us hunters as we are working a herd bull, we are in turn calling his cows from him, they don't like that!!! (grin) Be inside a 100yds with cover & good wind for best results & you can have an enraged bull refusing to share even one cow!! (grin)

Great Job!!

ElkNut1

Glad your fizzle stick didn't ruin the shot opportunity. Congrats on the bull. Fun story.

IB

http://elk101.com/forum/2010-elk-hunting-story-contest/robert-mckenner-%E2%80%93-elk-hunting-story-contest/